Becoming Who You Are

I usually start the week with a song, so I thought this week I’d end with one too.

Although I can’t remember the first time I heard this song, I remember waking up to the lyrics when I was about 19/20 and thinking, ‘Those guys really hit a nail on the head there…’

It pretty much sums up that period as you’re growing up, when your parents, teachers and whoever else think it’s their business to tell you how you ought to act, what’s acceptable and what the ‘right’ way of doing things is.

Except that ‘right’ way of doing things isn’t a way you agree with, but if you dare say that, you get punished. It’s a confusing time and it can be hard to hold onto your identity.

And then you get a little older and realise that being a grown-up isn’t about having some sudden sense of magical wisdom. There’s no golden key that unlocks the mysteries of the ‘right’ way to do anything. It becomes clear that the phrase ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’ simply means ‘you’ll understand that no one has a clue what they’re talking about’.

No one can tell us what to think, feel or be. Our principles are ours to make. There is no one in the world quite like us, and searching out what we truly believe in and determining our own values is one of the most positive steps we can take in life. It doesn’t have anything to do with other people’s beliefs; we are our own guides.

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily,
oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, oh responsible, practical.
And then they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world’s asleep,
the questions run too deep
for such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.

I said now watch what you say they’ll be calling you a radical,
a liberal, oh fanatical, criminal.
Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re
acceptable, respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
Oh Take it take it yeah!

But at night, when all the world’s asleep,
the questions run so deep
for such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am,
Who I am.

Who knows who’s so logical.

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